Stand together to fight misogyny in sport and society

IT HAS been a beacon of gender equality for more than 100 years - but today International Women's Day feels more important than ever because misogyny is on the rise. And it's not a wolf-whistle, pinch-your-a*** misogyny, it's more deeply hidden and much more sinister.

- Sharron Davies Guest columnist

The rise of Andrew Tate and his women-hating, women-abusing followers is not an aberration, it’s cast-iron proof where we are. It is no surprise a survey for International Women's Day 2025 revealed 64% of UK adults think misogyny is a problem. Three in ten consider it a very serious one. And they are right.

It's no secret I believe the way our sporting bodies prioritise perceived “trans rights” rather than cherishing and fostering the ambitions of our girls and young women is a very serious mistake. It's an outrage women's sport only gets 4% of the sponsorship dollars across the world. But it's an even bigger outrage that, over the last few years, women have lost £1.5million of their already tiny winnings to men identifying as female. Some 3,500 races have been won by males in women's sports and more than 11,000 races have been affected.

Biology exists and we need to protect the female category, otherwise the women will just not have the opportunity to win anything. A lot of organisations in Europe and the UK have taken cowardly options.